Pics: Spoorthi Ullal
Daijiworld Media Network - Mangaluru (JS)

Mangaluru, Jan 26: The 67th Republic Day was celebrated at Nehru Maidan here on Tuesday January 26. District in-charge minister Ramanath Rai unfurled the National Flag and received the guard of honour.

The celebration was marred by protest against the controversial Yettinahole project. Before Ramanath Rai arrived at the venue, activists against the project gathered at the spot and waved black flags and shouted slogans against Rai. The police intevened and detained four of the activists including Dinesh Holla of Sahyadri Sinchana and Sudath Jain.

In his address, Ramanath Rai said, "Today is an auspicious day for all Indians, as the Constitution was formed on this day. The pillars of democracy - legislature, executive and judiciary were brought under the Constitution and basic rights were provided to the citizens of India."

Listing out the achievements of the Congress-led state government, he said, "To provide social justice, our government has taken up many schemes and initiatives, and has been working towards the overall development of the people. We have brought schemes like Anna Bhagya, Ksheera Bhagya, Manaswini and Maitri, and made efforts to ensure that they reach the last person in society Dakshina Kannada has been in the forefront in implementation of these schemes.

"We have spent Rs 36 crore to implement the ambitious Anna Bhagya scheme in Dakshina Kannada, and there are about 2 lac beneficiaries under it. About 1.78 lac students in government and aided schools of DK are being provided milk three days a week under Ksheera Bhagya scheme. About 225 metric tonne of milk powder is being supplied for this," he added.

"In Dakshina Kananda 1.61 acre of land has been identitied near Urwa Store for the construction of Ambedkar Bhavan, and it is proposed to be built at a cost of Rs 12 crore. The estimate has been prepared for the same and sent for administrative approval

"In order to discourage lavish weddings and to promote simple weddings, an incentive of Rs 50,000 will be given to those who choose to have simple weddings. The incentive for inter-caste marriage has been raised from Rs 50,000 to Rs 2 lac," he said.

"In 2015-16, a grant of Rs 177.85 was released for backward classes under the Vidyasiri scheme. Also 50 beneficirares have been given 54 acre of land under the forest act and title deeds have been given to them. Home have been built for 136 beneficiaries of the Koraga communities at a cost of Rs 238 lac.

"Rs 7.80 lac has been sanctioned for 94 students belonging to SC/ST and Malekudiya communities, who have passed SSLC and PUC in first class in the first attempt.

"Rs 25 lac has been released to SC/ST and Malekudiya families for housing repairs. In Dharmasthala, an ashram school has been built at a cost of Rs 337 lac under the SC/ST welfare department," he added.

"A swimming pool of international standards is being built at a cost of Rs 5 crore at Yemmekere.
The court had ordered Rs 35 crore of compensation for those who lost their lands during the extention of Mangaluru international airport. This amount has now been released. Also, proposal has been sent to the government for extension of airport runway to 11,000 ft," he said.

He also informed that the district administration has identified 60 villages in all where records of lands belonging to farmers would be maintained under a government project.

"Sections 94C for rural and 94CC for urban areas have been inserted in the Karnataka Land Revenue Act, 1964 to regularize unauthorised constructions on government land. In Dakshina Kannada, 54,000 applications have been received under 94C, out of which 4,492 applicants have been given title deeds," he added.

"We have also launched a scheme to provide modified two-wheelers to those who are 75 percent handicapped. This year, 20 beneficiaries were given two-wheelers each worth Rs 70,000. An abled person who gets married to a disabled person will be given an incentive of Rs 50,000 in order to encourage such marriages. Laptops with speech feature will be given to the visually impaired.

"For women empowerment and to support Sthree Shakti movement, our government has chosen 3,363 organizations in DK district and released Rs 3.83 crore grant for them.

Udnder Basava Vasati scheme, 4,700 houses have been built for beneficiaries this year, out of which 1,565 houses are under construction. A new housing scheme called Dr Ambedkar Nivasa Yojana has been launched by the state government, and 2,502 beneficiaries will be chosen from the district under this," he said.

"The new DC's office will be constructed at Padil at a cost of Rs 41 crore and tender process has already been completed. The work will start soon. Construction of Mini Vidhana Soudhas have been completed in Mangaluru, Puttur and Sullia, and in Bantwal and Beltangady, the work is under progress," he added.

He also said that the recent Udyoga Mela was a great success with participation of 12,458 aspirants, out of which over a thousand got jobs and another 2,000 will be employed shortly.

"In the next five years, the city will get Rs 200 crore under the centre's AMRUT scheme. This money will be utilized for underground drainage, rainwater drain and park development. By the end of this year, toilets will be built under the MCC limits.

"Under ADB second phase, Rs 280 crore grant has been sanctioned and this will be utilized on drinking water, road development, drainage and other basic infrastructure," Rai said.

"We should work towards upholding the values of unity and equality and protect the diversity of our nation. Let us be law-abiding, responsible citizens and do our duties towards the nation rather than only talking about the rights guaranteed to us by the Constitution," he said in his concluding remarks.

Police commissioner Chandra Sekhar and ACP Madan Gaonkar were honoured on the occasion for winning the President's Medal for Meritorious Service. Also, Hasan Vitla, superintendent at DC's office, was honoured for being chosen for the state government employees' award 2015-16 which will be presented by the governor in Bengaluru.

P Sridhar, range forest officer, Mangaluru, Ravichandra A, section officer, office of the superintendent of police, Mangaluru, B Haidar Ali and Prabhakara, first division clerks, office of the deputy commissioner, Manjula, superintendent, department of women and child welfare, Mangaluru and Ramesh, attender, department of horticulture, Mangaluru were honoured with Sarvottama Seva Award for 2016 from Dakshina Kannada.